Training Your Puppy: Why is it Important?
Having a new puppy come into your home is very similar to having a new baby, and just like you would educate your children, you also want to make sure your puppy is educated on the dos and don’ts of living in your household and being a part of your family. You want them to be comfortable and confident interacting with the various aspects of their lives, including their owner, their new family, their new house, etc. That is why puppy training is so critical.
Not only will training your puppy give you and your family a better puppy experience, but it will also help your puppy live a happier life in various ways. Dogs love structure because it makes them feel confident in what they are supposed to be doing. Training will help provide that structure for your puppy.
Australian Labradoodles in particular are incredibly smart, and while exercise is important, mental exercise is just as (if not more) important. Training your dog encourages them to think critically, learn, and ultimately strengthens their bond with you. A daily dose of mental stimulation will also help to tire your puppy out so that they sleep all the way through the night.
As breeders who deeply care for our Australian Labradoodles, we require that new owners meet with a trainer within the first three days of having the new puppy home. We strongly encourage you to build a relationship with an experienced animal behaviorist and regularly attend in-person puppy training classes. Puppy classes are wonderful! Your dog will get to meet other furry friends, become more socialized around new dogs and strangers, as well as work one-on-one with you and a professional trainer.
These very smart dogs pick things up quite quickly, so once they master basic manners and obedience and are itching to learn more, you can engage them in other types of training — agility, the Canine Good Citizen award, as well as fun puppy tricks, just to name a few.
Dedicating time to training your puppy is so worth it, and your puppy will love it too!
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we understand that it can be a struggle to find in-person puppy classes due to the restrictions of health safety, as well as state requirements. However, just because you can’t leave home, doesn’t mean you can’t continue your puppy’s training. Therefore, we have partnered with the online puppy school, Baxter and Bella!
Baxter and Bella is a wonderful resource for at-home training! Owner and founder of Baxter and Bella Amy Jensen is a professional dog trainer, a member of the APDT (the Association of Professional Dog Trainers), a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, and a member of the IAABC (International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants). She is passionate about teaching your puppy how to act as well as coaching you on how to train. Your puppy will not only get to know you as their owner and their trainer, but their bond with you will strengthen as well.
Baxter and Bella has an amazing curriculum that walks you through all the training your puppy needs to be successful. Each unit includes videos where you can watch and mimic exactly how a professional trainer would train your dog. The best part is that you can watch it as many times as you need. Baxter and Bella’s curriculum includes Pet Parent Training (in which you learn a base-level understanding of training tips, tricks, tools, and techniques), Puppy Preparation (a unit which outlines how to set up your house for canine compatibility), Basic Manners, Socialization, Potty Training, Crate Training, Obedience Bootcamp, Training Games, and so much more! For a full list of Baxter and Bella’s curriculum click HERE.
In addition to a full curriculum that outlines all the training your puppy needs, Baxter and Bella offers live classes, office hours with Amy, “Ask the Trainer” emails in which she responds within 24 hours, the Puppy Podcast, and much more.
Along with being such a wonderful resource for you and your puppy, Baxter and Bella is super affordable. For the price you would pay for a basic Manners 1 training class, you can become a lifetime member of Baxter and Bella which includes the entire curriculum, all the added resources previously listed, and any future additions to the school at no additional cost. On top of that, you can use our code, LAKESHORE25 for 25% off your purchase.
We adore Baxter and Bella, but we would like to remind you that it is not a substitute for in-person dog training. We still strongly encourage you to go to those in-person classes where your dog can experience new smells, sounds, puppies, people, and of course, work one-on-one with a professional dog trainer. The socialization of your puppy is of the utmost importance, and in-person training classes can help with that socialization. However, Baxter and Bella is a resource you can access 24 hours a day when a puppy class or trainer is unavailable to you. It is a wonderful additional resource and totally worth it.
